Category Archives: Advent

May I come in?

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“If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you for ever – the Spirit of truth…you know him for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you….. If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”

(John 14. 15-17 &23)

Human beings are made in the image of God, made to reflect creativity, strength, compassion, love, to one another and the world. We are made by a God who is three-in-one, a God who is community and endless loving communication. We are made for community, to give and receive, to speak and to listen, to exist in relationships of such trust that we have no need to hide anything of ourselves. That is what lies behind the picture of Adam and Eve walking naked in the Garden of Eden, sharing with God in the cool of the day.

And when we rebelled against God, we broke the image; we all now live with the curse of needing community, but struggling to create it because of the ways our fallen nature has twisted us. We project images of ourselves which we hope will give us a peaceful life, protect us from abuse or ridicule, enable others to accept and like us. But so often these are not the truth, rather a facade behind which we hide – longing to be known utterly, but afraid to be known, full of shame and fearful of rejection.

So we live, even within the closest human relationships, behind closed doors, locked away and unable to enjoy that sweet ease which comes from being with one who accepts and loves us unconditionally. We cannot make and keep the connections which create deep relationships without exposing our secrets, trusting another flawed human being to be gentle with us, willing to forgive them when they hurt us – as those closest to us surely can. How many of us truly manage to do this?

What hope is there then for meeting this deep need within our beings, for finding that soul food of fellowship and acceptance from which we can then give unconditional love and acceptance to others?

Our hope is in our good and gracious God, who knows better than the greatest physician or psychologist just exactly what ails us! When once we have seen and loved Christ, acknowledging his mercy and majesty and accepting his forgiveness, we are made new, made fit for the most intimate fellowship with God. That is what Jesus was telling the apostles in his last conversations with them as recorded by John. We need never feel alone or isolated again, because Father, Son and Spirit are ever present with us. Every aspect of our character and experience is known and accepted in love. As we rest more and more in that heart of God’s love for us, we are able to give love without expectation of return, and no longer depend on the approval of anyone else for our peace of mind and sense of worth.

In this season of Advent, I will be celebrating the coming of Immanuel, which means ‘God with us’.

With me – here, today, in my mess and weariness:

With me – tomorrow, in the unknown future:

With me – in joy and triumph, as well as fear and doubt:

With me; loving me; listening to me; sharing his heart with me; taking joy in my joys and feeling my sorrows:

With me from now until the day comes when all things are made new, when all the remaining hindrances that hold my attention away from him are removed, when I shall see him and know even as I am known.

Alleluia, Come Lord, Come!

Alpha and Omega

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Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

(Hebrews 12 v 2)

Last year, I did a new thing for Advent, searching the bible for names of Jesus, and using one each day to help me to focus on him, the reason for this season! I pick them out of the bowl at random, and then make an effort to think during the ensuing day about what that title means, and how it enriches my understanding of Jesus and all that he is.

Yesterday, it was this verse from Hebrews, reminding me that Jesus is both the author – the source of the plan of salvation – and also the perfecter of our faith. He not only drew up the blueprint, but came from heaven, from the glory of his father’s throne, and worked it out down to the last detail in his own body. Stuart Townend & Keith Getty put it succinctly in their song  ‘See what a morning’ –     ” See God’s salvation plan, born in love, wrought in pain, paid in sacrifice”.

There is nothing left for me to add…. no ticking of boxes, no achieving of prescribed standards of behaviour, or conforming to a particular mould. I can only receive, agreeing in my heart with a holy God, that I have nothing worthwhile to offer him, and that I stand in desperate need of a Saviour. My human pride rebels over and against this, seeking any way that I might put God in my debt, and somehow deserve this priceless gift which he is offering me. Surely, if I pray with great persistence, give sacrificially, witness at every opportunity, then I will have earned God’s favour?

What did Paul say in 1 Corinthians chapter 13? That one can be the most gifted, dedicated servant but without love – without that response to God in my heart – I am NOTHING. All my labours achieve is to wear me out with well-doing, creating a bitter and resentful heart as I see that God continues to bless others who do not try as much as I do, and that hard and painful things continue to happen to me.

What a relief it is by comparison to accept that it is only in Christ that I have any claim on God, and then to recognise that Christ’s claim is absolute! In him, I am a beloved child of the King of Kings,  acceptable to a holy God, secure in my new family ties and with an eternal life in which to enjoy and work them out. The perfect son of God is the one who planned my salvation from the beginning, and is also the one who carries it through to completion, so that in the end he will present us – all his people – pure and spotless before the throne of God. It is not my labours after perfection which determine my future, but his finished work which guarantees it.

Yes, it is right and proper that in our response to this love we should desire to become like Jesus in his holiness, that we should long to share the good news of his death and resurrection, and to care for all his children. But while we remain in frail human flesh, our efforts will remain flawed and compromised. It’s ok! God knows and understands, welcoming our desire to be changed, to serve and love in his name, and enabling us more and more to live in this way as we trust him for daily strength and perseverance.

I don’t have to be perfect, because Jesus is perfect for me. I just need to remain in his presence, depending on and loving him more than anything else. The apostle Paul wrote to his Philippian church to encourage them in this kind of faithful living, reminding them that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”. (Phil 1 v 6)

The title of this piece, two Greek letters which stand at the beginning and end of that alphabet, is another of the names given to Jesus (Rev 22 v 13). This idea that he is before and after all things, somehow holding it all together, is a richly satisfying picture for me, and ties in very closely with the verse from Hebrews with its sense of the completeness of his work. The words are also quoted in a very old hymn, not often sung nowadays, but full of good theology and worth revisiting! I will close with it this week, and pray that as you take these words and think over them, you will be filled with praise for Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

Of the Father’s love begotten ere the worlds began to be,

He is Alpha and Omega, he the source, the ending he,

Of the things that are, that have been, and that future years shall see,

Evermore and evermore!

(Aurelius Clemens Prudentius 348-413, translated by J M Neale 1818-66)

My own flesh and blood?…

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But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead,

the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

For since death came through a man,

the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man.

For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

(1 Corinthians 15 v 20-22)

This may seem an odd verse to use at the beginning of the season of Advent, looking towards the birth of Jesus, the coming of God clothed in human flesh. But the incarnation, already stunningly good news in itself as we see God reaching out to us in love, is so much more again!

I have been thinking about what it meant for Jesus to be human – like us, made of flesh and bone, full of emotions and thoughts – and what that means for me. I think that too often I have a degraded view of humankind, forgetting that when God reviewed creation, He declared it all good, and stated that humanity – men and women together – reflect God’s own character. We represent the ecstatic heights of God’s creative act, and I believe that the story revealed in the bible is of how – in spite of our rebellion, our destructive habits and utter inability to redeem ourselves – God is still planning to fulfill his original purposes in creation.

In Genesis, we find God walking with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day, enjoying their company in the world which had been created to sustain and delight them – in their human form. In the book of Revelation, in the vision which the apostle John was given of the future promised to all God’s children, we find a new earth, where God dwells with his people, and all the barriers caused by our sin and rebellion are gone. All that God ever wanted, was us… Do I really let that sink in often enough? Out of his abundant love, he created a universe and galaxies beyond understanding in order that he might share joy and love with us. And this is still his plan.

When Jesus humbled himself and took on human likeness, it was also the likeness of God, and should remind me continually of the value of each and every human being that every lived. There has never been anyone who did not matter, or was not worth caring about. When Jesus lived for over 30 years on this earth, eating and drinking, walking and wearying just as I do, it reminds me that my Lord and God knows and understands intimately what it is to be human, and nothing about me is unimportant to him. But, when I consider that Jesus came back to life with a human body – albeit with some unprecedented qualities – that is simply electrifying!

My eternal destiny is not in some disembodied state, but in a transformed, glorious, but still human body – because I will inhabit a transformed and glorious but still recognisable earth! God plans to live in uninterrupted fellowship with his beloved children, as He has always desired, and to this end, will make all things new when Christ returns. I freely admit that my mind is far too small to begin to deal with all the implications of this truth – and I would also suggest that if we don’t know all the details, it is because we don’t need the details just now!

Is it not enough to know that when we delight in this world, in our humankind, in all we can do and create, share and enjoy, we are following God’s heart? These are good things to give thanks for, and in which to recognise and celebrate the goodness of God. But we can rejoice even more in the certain hope of a life to come, in a new body – just like Jesus – when all the things which make this world painful will be gone. Then, oh then, what joy awaits, as we revel in a perfect world, in uninterrupted communion with our God, exercising our gifts, pursuing our interests, fulfilling our truest destinies – really living at last.

As we enter into this period of preparation for celebrating the first coming of Jesus as our Saviour, let us also look ahead with eager anticipation to his return in power, when we shall truly be ‘made alive’.

Amen. come, Lord Jesus. (Rev 22 v 20)